


this is how we heal (and this is your life)

by toflowerknights



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Dealing With Trauma, Multi, domestic children taking care of each other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-18
Updated: 2015-06-18
Packaged: 2018-04-05 01:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4160982
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toflowerknights/pseuds/toflowerknights
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Monty had been too embarrassed to tell them that he had nightmares. Every night he would wake up to memories of a needle digging into his back and his friends dying around him.</p>
<p>He didn’t have to. Both Raven and Octavia woke him up with nightmares of their own. After that nothing seemed embarrassing anymore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	this is how we heal (and this is your life)

Monty was sitting on his bunk, smoking something that didn’t get him as high as he wanted it to. It was herbs that had been found behind Camp Jaha and they made him feel all wrong. Weird. Like someone had their hands on his shoulders and pushed him down. They did the trick though. Well enough.

On the bed opposite him Raven and Octavia are asleep, and the thin cover is stretched over their hips and Monty smiled slightly when he sees their hands intertwined. He would join them eventually, but for now he was content where he was.

Ever since Mount Weather things had changed drastically. Jasper hadn’t spoken a word to him since they got back, and halfway through the first month Monty had stopped trying. It took too much effort, hurt too much, to think that Jasper wouldn’t forgive him, no matter how much he begged.

Somewhere along the road Raven had sat down next to him and started talking and Monty had listened. Told him everything that had happened while he was gone and he ignored how her lips trembled over Finn’s name. He told her stories about people she didn’t know, people who died before she got the chance to.

A few weeks later Octavia, a ghost since Lincoln had died in a hunting accident gone wrong, joined them.

They had become some sort of mismatched trio, never too far away from each other. Monty didn’t even know how it had happened, but somehow both Raven and Octavia’s stuff had ended up in his room and they took turns sharing the beds. No one really questioned it.

Monty had been too embarrassed to tell them that he had nightmares. Every night he would wake up to memories of a needle digging into his back and his friends dying around him.

He didn’t have to. Both Raven and Octavia woke him up with nightmares of their own. After that nothing seemed embarrassing anymore.

One night he woke up to Octavia crawling into the bed he and Raven was sharing with this scared look on her face. Just as he was about to ask what was wrong she silenced him with a chaste kiss, pressed to the corner of his mouth. Monty could feel Raven’s eyes dig into the both of them, and he wondered if it had felt absolutely clear to them, where this was headed. He wondered if he was the only one who felt surprised.

They weren’t perfect. Far from it. Monty knew how a new love should be and they were anything but. It should’ve been amazing, and exciting, and perfect. Instead it was anguished whimpers and silent sobs muffled by mouths buried in necks and fingers digging into smooth skin.

Monty wasn’t used to being the one people needed. Not like this, at least. If someone wanted to build a robot or a radio they knew where to find him, but he couldn’t think of the last time someone actually came to him in need of comfort. He hadn’t known how much he had longed for company as well.

Not much changed, at least Monty didn’t feel like it had. Octavia seemed to have decided that this was what was from now on and even though two people barely fit, they all shared a bed now. Monty spent his nights dizzy with want and drowning in the need to help them both.

During the days both he and Raven worked on whatever was needed of them, and more often than not Octavia spent her days watching them from the corner of the workshop, where she had made a place for herself.

Monty’s nightmares stopped.

It took about four months, enough time for his seventeenth birthday to pass. Raven and Octavia each give him a gift. Raven gave him a new wrench and Octavia gave him the herbs he was currently smoking. Both gifts were stupidly simple but enough to make him bite his lip to stop tears from welling up in his eyes.

The lack of nightmares made Monty’s life a whole lot easier. He didn’t feel too strung out when he woke up, and he could better focus on his work. He could also make sure that neither Raven or Octavia woke up screaming.

Smoke still ringled toward the ceiling as Monty dropped his joint on the table. He crawled into bed. It was as if the missing piece had been put into place because Octavia immediately threw an arm across his waist and Raven nuzzled her nose into the crook of his neck.

It took no time at all for him to fall asleep.

When Monty woke up it was midday. Sun was streaming into their room and when he rubbed the last remains of sleep from his eyes he could see Octavia pulling a shirt over her head. The leather jacket she had worn where hidden away, and the soft fabric gave her a softer look, without taking away any of her strength.

He was content with watching her get dressed for a few minutes, smiled as he saw sunshine curve around her body. Octavia noticed him watching her and smirked slightly. Without a word she sat down in front of him and he began braiding her hair. He’d gotten pretty good at it over the last month or so, when Octavia had forbidden Raven from ever trying to fix her hair, ever.

”Thank you,” Octavia said once he was done and gave him a quick kiss on the mouth. It was a casual gesture and Monty returned it by stroking his hand across her waist. He chased after her, almost childlike, with his hands and got blinded by the sun for his efforts.

The sun helped him realise something important.

”You slept through the night,” he said, forgot to hide his surprise, and Octavia gave him a wry smile.

”I did,” she said and pulled on her shoe laces. ”I would’ve woken you up, but you looked like you needed some sleep.”

”You don’t look as sad anymore,” Monty said without thinking, because they never talked about it, not really. They just tried to move on, which probably was the wrong way to do things.

Octavia’s hands stilled over her jeans and she bit down on her bottom lip.

”I feel a little more… whole, when I’m with you,” Octavia said and looked at him, waiting for him to say anything.

Monty couldn’t think of anything. ”Wait for me and we’ll walk over to mechanics together?” he asked but Octavia shook her head with a small smile.

”I’m actually not… joining you today,” she said and got up on her feet. ”I asked Abby if I could help her in medical.”

Monty looked at her in surprise and she got a uncertain look on her face.

”Well, they’re always short on people,” she said defensively. ”And I wanna help.”

”No, that’s good,” Monty hurried to assure her. ”I’m sure you’ll be great!”

Her face spread in a nervous smile. ”Yeah?” she asked and Monty rolled his eyes.

”Go,” he said and waved toward the door. ”You don’t wanna be late for your first day.”

It was a weird feeling, walking across Camp Jaha alone. His shoes made a scratching sound against the ground and before he got to mechanics Raven ran up to meet him.

”Did she tell you?” she asked with a wide smile. ”About the job?”

Monty nodded and Raven threw an arm over his shoulders.

”You’ve gotta come with me,” she said and pulled him into their workshop. ”It feels stupidly empty without the two of you.”

Monty couldn’t help but agree when he got inside and saw Octavia’s empty corner. The smile on Octavia’s face as she left made it all worth it though.


End file.
